Family In The 1950s

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In modern time, the word “family” is a word that cannot be easily defined. However, in the 1950s, there would only be one straightforward, specific answer. Family had one answer, with divorce, single parents, blended families, homosexuality, and anything “unconventional” not fitting into the equation. Every word is first created with a set definition, but as time passes, and the world changes, people’s perceptions of things within the world change as well. “Family” is no exception. How society defined this word in the ‘50s is not the same as how they define it over 60 years later. The views and values of society have changed greatly over those years, and the definition of family has adapted and been reshaped to fit the views of today’s society. …show more content…
Media such as the internet, radio, and, particularly, television greatly affect how children, and people in general, think about ideas, such as the modern family. Television especially influenced people, as it was arguably the most popular form of media, serving as both entertainment, and a source knowledge. Before television and internet were invented, people could not be influenced by what media would portray. Their only option was to rely on what they were taught by their family, not what others, or the media, thought. The introduction of media to society introduced a way of teaching people things in several different ways, and from several different perspectives. In other words, without media, there was only one definition of a family. However, with media, there are now multiple definitions, as well as viewpoints, to …show more content…
As the world around us has changed, society has reshaped their values. It no longer matters if a family does not have two parents, and biological children. The principles of society have changed to allow for differences in family, and to accept them as if they were traditional. People now realize and understand that a family is not just about its makeup, but rather, it is “a close-knit unit of individuals joined together without distinction to race/ethnicity, biology, sexual orientation, age, generation, or presence in households, cemented through one common characteristic: love.” (1) Society’s values in relation to family have shifted over the years to become more centered around love and relationships, and “Real American families seem to also share the same values regardless the decade.” (5) Family has always been about the strong feelings between people that bonded them together, whether society defined it that way or not. Shows like Modern Family and Full House “both reflect the shift in Americans’ morals, while simultaneously pushing toward greater openness and acceptance of alternative family
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